


I remeber dancing

by StuckyandStarWars



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Artist Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Canon Divergence - Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Current Events, Fluff and Angst, Heavy Angst, Ironstrange (background?), M/M, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Protective Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers Feels, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-24
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-13 07:34:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14744610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StuckyandStarWars/pseuds/StuckyandStarWars
Summary: When Steve finds Bucky after two years of searching for his best friend and former lover, he rents an apartment to keep it under wraps.A lot of stuff doesn't go to plan, but rebuilding a relationship from a brainwashed ex-assassin doesn't always do that.(So basically civil war never happens, but most of the people from it still show up)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, thank you for checking this out. This isn't the first fic I've written but the first I've posted so I hope you like it. I'm starting this during the summer so maybe I'll actually finish it.

Steve looked at Bucky, his best friend, his lover once before. He was sitting on a small couch in an apartment Steve had started renting for Bucky, trying to make him more comfortable after they found him.

"Bucky, I've been looking for you for two years now-"

"And you didn't think to do that any sooner?" It was sharp and it hit Steve more than any of his friend's punches years ago.

"-what?" 

Bucky started standing up, and Steve's instinct to back away kicked in, but he shifted and stood his ground. Bucky wouldn't hurt him. It was Bucky. It was James Buchanan Barnes.

"You didn't even look for me when I fell? You were the last thing I saw when I fell off that train, before the scientists. And damnit, Rogers, I called for you. I screamed out for you. Hoping, praying, that you'd show up like you always did. 'Captain America' to save the day" he took a step forward, and Steve still stood his ground, but was starting to shake now. "You never fucking showed up through all the torture."

"Bucky I'm so sorry. I-I thought you were dead-"

"Oh shut up! Don't give me your damn apologies, excuses. You forgot about me, I guess people always forget about the sidekick." He spat it, stuck out his right arm and practically shoved Steve out of the way. 

Buck stormed towards what Steve had told him was his room, and Steve took a few steps after him.

"Bucky- wait, you aren't- you were never my side kick- please I never forgot about you! Buck!" The door slammed shut with such force that the the wall shook and the fruit in the bowl rattled. 

Steve stared at it for what felt like an eternity before walking to his own room. He picked up his phone and called Nat, the first number in his phone, who he hoped would understand. The line was silent for a second after she picked up before Steve choked out-

"He- I left him there. I didn't even Look for him, Nat! What kind of friend- he gave so much for me and I saved his live once and he fell and there was-" he let out a sob, tears starting to fall to the floor. "The second I woke up, in that set of the forties, as soon as my head was able to comprehend things, I realized that if I could have survived a plane crash where I thought I was so dead, I could've jumped after Bucky. I could've grabbed him, been a shield between him and the ground- Nat-"

"It's not your fault, Steve."

"It is. He was tortured and I was just in some peaceful sleep, knocked out, and he was being turned into- into something, and I didn't even LOOK FOR HIM!" 

The tears were coming in full force sobs, Steve sunk onto his bed and let waves of emotion wash over him. 

"I'm going to come to the apartment."

"Don't. Not yet. I'm sorry for calling you."

Nat sighed. "I'm here any time."

Steve nodded and hung up, still sobbing. He knew the walls were thin, and he hadn't even bothered to shut his door, but he didn't really think Bucky cared.

Bucky cared, even if he didn't want to. Sure, he had screamed for Steve for months, years, until he gave up hope. Bit Steve was the one being tortured now,on some level, by himself. Bucky had the impulse to run into Steve's room and either shoot him or wrap his arms around him, and just cry. Join Steve in his sobs. But he knew that after shouting at him basically that he hated him, he couldn't just go comfort him.

\--  
Later that day, Steve was setting the table for lunch. He knocked on Buckys door.

"Do you want any spaghetti?" He asked, already having scooped Bucky a plate. He didn't get an answer. "I'm- I'm going to put it on the table right outside your door, okay?"

Steve sat at the table alone, the gut twist feeling that hadn't left since Bucky slammed his door making him want to throw up. He finished in a trance, and when he looked up, the plate wasn't outside anymore and he could hear Bucky eating. He cleaned up, and then went to lay back down on his bed. He felt like he was out of tears, but they kept coming, streaming down his face. He had to prepare what do say to Bucky.

\--

They didn't talk for days. Bucky eventually started coming out of his room to eat, watch television, and go to the bathroom. Steve didn't try to talk either.

Surpirsingly, It was Bucky who broke the silence.

"That doesn't matter, does it? That you didn't look for me?" It stung again, but like a slap, not a stab. "I don't forgive you, but there's nothing we can do about it now. Thanks for dinner."

Steve barely blinked and Bucky was gone. It felt a little like forgiveness, so Steve didn't get up and follow him. They could start slow.

A few days later, Steve spoke first.

"Hey, uh" he started, not as clean as Bucky. "I didn't know what HYDRA gave you in that lab where I found you was part of the serum. If I had known you survived, or I could've survived, I would have been down there in seconds. I'm so- I-" He hadn't shook this hard in more than seventy years, when he was a twig and it was cold. Bucky, surprising him again, slid his hand across the couch and took Steves.

He was still looking at the wall. "I've had two years to think about how I was going to confront you, and now almost two months to figure that I did it so wrong."

It was another few minutes. This was the definition of taking it slow. Steve had a question to ask, but didn't know how. As always, Bucky read his mind.

"Ask me." He said. There hands were still clasped together, and Bucky was still staring holes into the wall.

"Oh. Uh, do you rember Brooklyn? Before the war?"

"I remeber you, if that's what you're asking. I remeber Coney Island and the apartment in cold winters, the Emergency Room because we couldn't afford one of those fancy inhaler things for every time your coughing hot out of control. I-I remeber dancing."

"Because we said it was practice for when I got a girl. Until you dipped me-"

"And kissed you." Bucky started laughing, and it was the most beautiful thing Steve had heard in years. "I thought you were going to reject me, either storm out or tell me to get the hell out, but you didn't. And I regretted not doing it sooner." Bucky turned to look at Steve, and for one spilt second, Steve though Buck was going to lean in and kiss him.

But Bucky moved his hand back and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry- I can't do that yet."

Steve nodded, trying not to show the pain that gripped him again. "That's understandable. Are you hungry?"

Bucky ignored the question. "That doesn't mean never. I do still love you. I try to hate you but I can't do it. I try- to not forgive you but after all that, I can't do it."

Steve felt tears in his eyes, but he wiped them with the back of his hand. "I'm so sorry."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is like minor angst and major fluff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its even shorter than the lat one oops

Both Bucky and Steve weren't very good at judging where the other one was comfortable. When Bucky woke up screaming did he want Steve to go into his room to comfort him? Steve didn't know. He usually paced outside the door until he thought his friend[?] Had fallen back asleep. Bucky, on the other hand, wondered if he was being too distant. This man had saved him, and still did think there was good in him, even if Bucky didn't think that could ever be the case.  
It's not like he didn't know Steve stood outside his room after Bucky had a nightmare. Bucky would then unlock the window and crawl out on to the fire escape to get some fresh air and a cigarette. Bucky could never smoke back in the forties, not around Steve at least. Not only did Steve dissaprove, he also would have had an asthma attack.

Steve felt like they should talk avout it, but he didnt know how to bring it up. Nat told him a few times just to go for it, so eventually he had to listen. As always, starting conversation was awkward.   
"Hey, Buck?"

"Yeah?" He looked up from the tablet on his lap where he was playing some dumb game, and Steve's mouth fell open.

Bucky was wearing sweatpants and a loose gray t-shirt, a red jacket, and a glove on his left hand. His hair was in a loose bun and his facial hair was getting kind of blotchy, like he hadn't shaved since Sunday. His eyes were tired and cold, full of something behind the layer of tortured memories. Steve opened his mouth again to actually speak this time.

"Nothing! It's nothing."

"Okay. Could you make fish tonight? I could go for some of that cod." He turned back to the game, his left hand using the touch pads on the fingers of the glove to touch the screen. Steve didn't talk again, he fucked up today and he had to recharge his confidence.

Later that night, after Cod, Television, and Steve's shower, he was sitting on the edge of his bed and thinking about what he should do now, if Bucky wakes up with a nightmare again. 

And when he wakes up with a jolt becuase Bucky was screaming, he stands at the door like he always does, but Bucky calls his name through the door.

"Steve? Are you there?"

"Yeah. Do you need me to come in?" 

"Yes... Please?"

Steve softly pushed the door open, and the contrast to that Bucky he had seen on the couch not long before was astounding. He was looking down, his hair falling in his face and almost his whole body shaking, other than the left arm. The metal was digging into the sheets of the bed, it was comepletly straight and locked. Bucks other hand was clawing at his leg, balling up his boxers in his hand. His breath was shaky as well, the same gray shirt now almost black in the dark lighting. 

"Buck?" Steve cautiously walked over to the bed and sat next to him. Almost as soon as he sat down, Bucky buried his face into Steve's chest, wrapping his arm around his back and inhaling like it was his last breath.  
Steve leaned into the hug, pulling Bucky closer. This was the first real hug they had. Steve hughed Bucky when they saw each other for the first time, but he didn't return it. It was still a minute before Bucky moved his metal arm into the hug, somehow squeezing Steve lightly with an arm built to be a weapon. This was also the first time he had seen Bucky cry in years and years.he could feel his shirt start to get wet, but he didn't even care. He pulled his friend closer, if that was possible, almost onto his lap, and buried his own face in Bucky's hair. They sat like that for god knows how long, until Buck let out a few more dry sobs and sat up.

"Oh. Your shirt."

"Its fine, it's just water." Steve laughed a little under his breath at how soaked his shirt was.

"Want to talk about your dream? You don't have to of course."

"I don't think I can." He hesitated. "Will you stay?"

"Of course, Buck. I'm not going anywhere." 

Steve stood up, keeping his hand on Bucky's shoulder and motioning for him to follow suit. When he was standing, still leaning on Steve for support, Steve pushed the blankets out flatter and helped his friend back into bed, then crawled in himself. It was small, packed a lot tighter than it had been when nither of them had the serum. But they got comfortable and they were both asleep within the hour.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey hey welcome back, in this one we get Tony, enjoy, they'll be in the tower next chapter.

When Bucky woke up, Steve was still in his bed. Steve was sprawled, not enough to make Bucky uncofortable, but enough to make him realize how different they were laying. Bucky was on his back, in the exact same position he had been when they fell asleep, and Steve had flipped to his stomach and thrown an arm around Bucky. Bucky stared at his face, his mouth open just enough for him to be drooling a little and the sun in the perfect position to shine light onto his perfect face. Bucky gulped. Yeah, he was still in love. But the pain of being left in the ice, with HYDRA, was enough to make him never want to become attached to anything ever again. It wasn't Steve's fault, he didn't have any clue that the Winter Soldier was being created while he peacefully slept.

Being back in the same apartment as Steve was comforting. Bucky could not talk to him at all, just exist in the same room, Steve cooking and Bucky watching the news, grumbling now and again about how damn stupid it was that America had won the war and moved so much, but how shitty the country still was. Steve would nod I'm agreement and then continue to fix whatever food he was currently making. He was always making food or cleaning something, it was like he couldn't sit still. His shield leaned on the counter, gradually becoming more of a wall decoration than a weapon. The weeks of silence became more and more comfortable. 

Bucky was calm on the outside, but at the noise of Steve dropping a pen could send him jolting. There was a gun in a case near Steve's shield, and Bucky had almost smashed the glass four times. Once for a dog outside, once when Natasha opened the door without buzzing up first, once when Steve had sneeezed and Bucky didn't know he was awake, and the most recent one was when Tony, Howard Stark's kid, had shown up at the window. 

Steve paced a lot. Sometimes when he was pacing and Bucky walked in, Steve would jump. Then he apologized and went back to it. Bucky never asked why he was pacing or what he was thinking about. 

Steve was actually very restless. He cooked and paced and watched television. It was calm, it was wonderful to do nothing, but it felt like something bad was just waiting to happen. Like it was a Tusnami, just waiting to break directly over all of their heads. He called the team, there was enough security to protect a king.  
Bucky hadn't felt safer in forever dispite his jumpy tendencies.

And Steve never should have gone out, Sam or Nat had been bringing them groceries for weeks now, why did he feel the urge to go get his own? And when he opened the door back to the apartment, he couldn't move for one second too long.

"..добросердечный.." The man sitting on their couch was reading from a red book, and across from him sat Bucky, tied to one of the kitchen chairs and shaking like mad, trying to shout something through the tape on his mouth.

They both turned to see Steve, who didn't wait another fucking second before grabbing the shield off the counter and throwing it into the jaw of the man. He didn't know russain, but he could guess from Buck's file what this man was saying. Steve ran over to the man, who was laying on the floor, face bloodied and eyes closed. Steve then moved to Bucky. First he took off the tape, and Bucky darted breathing loudly and shallow, like he was regaining his breath. Steve untied his hands and pried the metal EMP-like deactivator off Bucky's arm. 

"Buck? Hey Bucky, you okay?"

"Thank god- you- if you had taken any longer- I would've- he would've- the damn Words..."

"Hey, it's okay" Steve stroked Buckys face. "You're okay. C'mon, let's move you and get this ass tied down.

The got the man tied to the chair, and then put tapw over his mouth so he couldn't continue the words when he woke up. Steve concentrated on calming his friend down, rubbing his shoulder and even getting his pack of cigarettes even though Steve hated them. It was quiet, which was fine. Steve was tjinking about what he should do.

"I'll call the team, they need to know about this. Tony most of all."

Bucky closed his eyes and sucked in on his smoke. He didn't like thinking about Tony.

"I feel so horrible keeping it from him, Buck. I know- I know it wasn't you- but Howard." Steve was careful with what he said, he didn't want to send Bucky into panic mode, or, even worse, a panic attack. 

"That's why that man is here. December sixteenth, ninety one. He wanted the mission report on it, I wouldnt give it to him so I guess h-he thought the solider would be easier." Bucky puffed out smoke with his words and into the air. "He said his name is Zemo. I think he's the man who caused the explosion."

"What?"

"The bomb, at the meeting the other day. It sent multiple people to hospitals and killed the king of a kingdom in Africa."

"I know what happned, Buck. I was asking about the mission report. Why would,he want it?"

"Probably to release it. Show Stark."

"I have to tell him. I've known for too long and if he finds out from someone other than me- well, it probabaly wouldn't turn out well." Steve held out his hand and Bucky looked at him in confusion. "The smoke, Buck. What! I've smoked before. And I'm stressed. Just give it to me."

Bucky handed over the cigarette, marveling again at how hot Steve was when he sucked in on it. This wasn't really the time to be thinking about his beautiful lips, but it happens. 

"I'll call him. He can pick up this guy and then we can all meet up at the tower for a meeting. It'd be best if you weren't around when I told Tony, so I can get you back here with Nat or Sam before he tries to kill you."

"Smart. All of them don't trust me already. Give it back." He held out his left hand ans motioned for the cigarette. "They have every right not to like me, everyone does."

Steve sighed and looked at his friend, and the man he needed to show wasn't the monster he thought about himself as 

"Buck, let's just focus on this. Natasha doesn't hate you. I don't hate you."

"You should."

"Bucky-"

The man in the chair shifted and his eyes opened. His eyes and mouth grew with a bit of a smile, before he flinched and sttled back into a frown. It looked like Steve had broken his jaw.  

"Buck, why don't you go into one of the other rooms in case he tries again while,I talk to him. Text Tony from my phone but make sure he knows it's you and that I'm talking to Zemo."

"Can't I just text him like I'm you?" Bucky took Steve's phone in the hand that wasn't pinching the cigarette between two fingers.

"No, if he catches on then trust levels will drop. Stuff like that matters, and we need as much trust as possible."

"Good point. I'll be in my room." Steve nodded, and added Bucky's third self-deprecating comment that week to the list of things they should talk about.

Steve peeled the tape back from Zemo's mouth, and he flinched in pain as the tape pulled on his broken jaw.

"You try make me talk yet  broke my jaw? Great idea." His accent was heavy, but Steve could understand just fine. 

"Yeah, Tony can get you fixed up in no time." Zemo smiled. He was adjusting to the pain.

"No time is not enough time for saving what will happen. Mister Stark will find out, one way or another."

"What do you want?"

"Mission report, December-"

"Oh Fuck off. You know what happened. What do you want with the team?"

"Will find out soon enough."

"Where are you from?"

"Outside Sokovia. The flying city." Zemo hardened his eyes, glaring at Steve.

Steve tighted his grip on his shield as his mouth fell into an O. There was a knock on the door, and Steve stood up. He walked over to the buzzer.

"Yeah?"

"Hey Cap, your boy said you can a criminal up there in the flat. And some guy named Zemo." Steve rolled his eyes. 

"Tony, first of all-"

"Yeah, Yeah. Everyone knows. Just open the door." 

Steve entered the code on the door and he could hear Tony doing the same thing on his side. The door swung open to a shit eating grin. 

"Hey capsicle, long time no smell."

"Tony it's only been three and a half months-"

"And you haven't changed your smell a bit." Tony did the get-out-of-my-way shoulder pat and pushed past Steve. "So this is the guy?" Tony looked at Zemo. "You killed the king of Wakanda. His son is where I'm taking you right now, and he isnt just sad, he's pissed beyond belief. Cap, did you break his jaw? That looks like hurts."

"Tony just shut up and get him in the suit." 

Steve crossed his arms over his chest. Three and a half months of not having Tony around and it was a slap in the face when he came back with his blabbering and snarky attitude. Tony motioned for the suit he had brought and it flew over Zemo. He didn't say anything or struggle at all as it encased him, breaking the ropes,and keeping him an very stiff upward position.

"The weapons are deactivated on that thing, yeah?"

"Of course. It's on prisoner mode, it won't let him move at all. Not until we get home. The tower's been missing you. Wanda, vision, Natasha, Clint when stops by, Sam when he stops by."

"Not you?"

"No, you're a walking headache. Plus. I'm dating around. No time for a one hundred year old. And you've got your boyfriend back."

"You're dating around? What about Pepper?"

"Pepper and I are on a break. A Break with a U and a P. I've been meeting people. And we have bigger, more threatening problems right now." He tinged the metal with his knuckle. "Get your boy and we can talk back at the tower."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok ok I know. I LOVE Pepperony but for the sake of plot and my gay ass, tony will most likely get with Doctor Strange later on. If you dont like Ironstrange, you shold probabaly stop reading or just like put up with it. I'm adding it to the tags now.


	4. Chapter 4

"So in the time you and your boy-"

"Could you stop calling him that!"

"-Were locked up in your own Little Slice of Heaven, a lot happened. Pepper dumped me, Thor stopped in to say hi, it was a mess, more so than usual, but I was bringing various chicks and dicks to the tower, I recruited Spider-man, everyone calls him my son. I know I'm not a father figure, Natasha can catch you up on the rest of the drama."

"I leave for three months and you lose your girlfriend and adopt a kid. Jesus."

Steve glanced back at Bucky, who was looking in awe around the tower. He had adjusted to television, phones and tablets, but not tech like Tony."

"Hey, Steve. Rember the scince expo? The nighf before I shipped out and you got into the program to get yourself jucied up?"

"Of course. Tony, your dad was at that thing."

"Yeah. Where's our flying car?" Bucky tore his eyes away from the walls and ceiling to make steely eye contact with Tony. "Howard promised us a flying car." 

"Oh that old thing? The prototype was trashed. Never would've worked."

"No, Buck is right. He said in the near future wed have a damn flying car!"

"Language, Cap."

"Oh my god-"

"Where's that coming from? Steve Rogers curses like a sailor."

"Okay, Barnes. Let me tell you something that happened about a year ago." Tony pulled Bucky forward, the suit that still held Zemo going forward with them. Steve stopped, watching them go.

Steve liked that they were getting along, but if they got along too well the news would hurt Tony even more. And now he didn't have Pepper to lean on. Steve took a deep breath and turned down a hall to the right, remebering some things he had left in a spare room after he found Bucky and rushed to get him somewhere safe. Things that he didn't want to ask Sam or Nat to bring. An old canvass bag Peggy left for him when she died, barely five months ago, his multitudes of sketchbooks, a vintage Captain America figurine, a set of drawing pencils and pens that Fury said Howard had kept increase they ever found him, and his files and pictures of the Forties he liked to pour over. He put the stuff into the bag, with the sudden realization that other than what was given to them when they moved into the apartment and his shield, these were his only material possessions. They didn't even fill up the bag.

He found Tony in one of the safe rooms with Zemo, who told him Bucky was on the penthouse floor. The elevator ride was long, given there were a lot of stories in Avengers Tower. Even in the few years Steve had stayed there- Tony told them that they should say 'Lived' becuase technically they did, but Steve always felt like a guest- he hadn't become accustomed to the constant super-clean floors, or the elevator that you could tell, well, FRIDAY, now to play whatever you wanted. That was a change too, now that it wasn't JARVIS controlling everything. Her voice came over the currently silent elevator.

"You will find Mister Barnes outside."

"Thank you, FRIDAY." Steve stepped out of the elevator and walked across the lounge to where Bucky was sitting, legs dangling over the edge of the balcony area. 

He spoke up beofre Steve got to him. "Come out to make sure I don't jump?"

"That was part of it, yes."

"The other part?"

"Make sure you aren't alone."

Bucky nodded. The wind was whipping the peices of hair that had fallen out of the him he lamost always had his hair in across his face. 

"I don't know how to talk to Tony about it."

Bucky obviously didn't want to hear it. "Whiskey?" He held up his glass.

"We can't get drunk."

"It still burns. And how do you know we can't get drunk?"

"After you fell I drank half a bar. The same bar where you met Peggy, after I came and saved your ass. Remeber that place?"

"Of course. I was so fucking jealous."

Steve added 'Jealous of Peggy' to the list of things to talk about later as well, but decided to check a different item off the list.

"So, how much do you rember? I know you rember quite a bit about me, but about other things."

"I remeber everything, now. I think. My earliest memory is of you, actually. When you were about eleven, I was fifteen. I'm pretty sure it was the fist time you came home beat up."

"The first time you hadn't been there to save my ass?"

"Most certainly not the last. It was becuase I had just started a grade up, right? You were in middle and I was starting high school. First time we were really separated like that."

"Yeah." Steve sits down next to Bucky, crossing his legs, and reaches for the bottle of whiskey. 

"What happened to not drinking?" Bucky gave him a side eye, smiling. Steve laughed and tipped the bottle to his lips.

It did still burn. He put it back down and thought for a minute. He was sure if he dug through the alchol he could find some Asgaridan mead. 

"Do you actually want to drink to get drunk, Buck? Tony has a small store of stuff that does the trick."

"What?! And you didn't mention this before?" 

"It's really strong. Burns more than this stuff strong. "

"Great! What's it labeled, I can go grab it!" He started pushing himself up. Steve laughed again and held out his hand.

"We can't drink it now! Two sips of that shit can get a normal person absolutely fuckfaced. I'll take a flask of it back to the aparment."

"Language."

"Fuck yo-"

FRIDAY interrupted- "Mister Rogers? Mister Stark would like you to try talking to the prisoner for a bit."

Steve and Bucky looked at each other. That probabaly wasn't good. If Tony couldn't annoy someone into talking, it was unlikely Steve could do anything. They both stood up and walked back inside, Bucky stopping at the bar.

"What's it called, I want some."

"Buck this might be urgent."

"You go on, just tell me what to look for." Steve shook his head and strode back to where Bucky was.

"Most likely it isn't labeled. Give me a second."

He ducked behind the bar and started scanning the shelves. Within a few seconds he found a huge and very fancy looking bottle with a post-it stuck to it that read 'PointBreak big boy juice.' Steve picked it up and sat it on the counter, then ducked back under and found a large but simple flask, one that Tony would notice or mind if it disappeared.

"Pour it and then meet me with Zemo and Tony. Don't drink any."

"PointBreak?"

"Thor. It's a nickname. Like he calls me Capsicle. Meet me down there."

"Got it, boss"

"FRIDAY, make sure he doesn't drink any." Bucky let out a groan and stared holes into the back of Steve's headas the elevator doors opened and Steve decended, smiling and unaware of what the next couple weeks were going to bring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah well, I'm never good at ending chapters. But I guess its a cliff hanger.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter.

It had been hours, and no one could get anything useful out of Zemo. Steve caught Tony in the lounge pouring himself a drink.

"How many have you had?"

"Not even one." He lifted the glass to his lips.

"Wait!" Shit now it was unavoidable. "I have something to tell you, and you might want to be sober."

"Okayyyy.." He dragged, giving Steve a look and putting his glass back on the table. "You get something out of Zemo?"

"No, uh, but I know what he's after." Steve shut the door and took a breath.

"Oh! That's great! But if you didnt get him to talk-"

"It's something Bucky has. And that I think you should know about before you find out from him."

"You're being very ominous about this, Steve. Just tell me what it is."

"Okay. Just please remember that the winter solider isn't Bucky. He was brainwashed and tortured, everything that he did under HYDRAs influence wasn't him."

"Steve!" Tony leaned forward onto the table. "Please. You're scaring me. What happened."

"I have the video here" Steve held up a flash drive. "But I'm just going to tell you. You never have to watch this. Sit down."

Tony sat, and Steve mimicked his earlier position of leaning on the table. The air was thick between them, Steve's heart was beating out of his chest, and Tony was staring at him, his eyes full of fear.

"The Winter Solider- not Bucky- so HYDRA, well-"

"Jesus! Spit it out!"

"They killed your parents!" Steve closed his eyes and rocked back on his heels. "They killed Howard. I'm so sorry, Tony. I-I only found out days before we found Bucky and-"

"You're joking."

"I'm not. I'm sorry, I'm not. Please let me explain." He expected Tony to interject or protest. He didn't. "Your father and mother, when they left that night, they had packets of the Serum that made me. I don't know why. HYDRA, as you know, has always wanted the serum, and they sent-"

"Barnes."

"No, Tony it wasn't him. He was brainwashed. He couldn't control-"

"HE SHOULD HAVE FOUGHT IT!" Tony stood up, the chair scraping out loudly behind him before toppling over. He was shaking with anger.

"Tony he tried. It's HYDRA, you know how HYDRA is!" Steve was ready to go into pleading mode. 

"What does Zemo want." Tony's eyes had gone dark. Steve felt a chill run down his back. Mad Tony was teriffying. 

"M-mission report, December sixteenth-"

"Nineteen ninety one. Yeah, that's the date. I thought it was a car crash. They told me it was a car crash."

"They did. Look, its all on the tape, but if you want me to explain it to you without you having to watch that-"

Tony threw himself across the table, landing on Steve and knocking the air out of him and not even giving him a second to process before punching him in the face. 

"Where is he?! Where is Barnes?!"

"Tony-" another punch landed on his jaw, shutting him up. "Tony please-gah- hes back at the apartment. Tony I can't fucking talk if you keep hitting me."

Tony climbed off of Steve, wiping his bloodied hand on his white shirt. Steve swallowed the blood in his mouth, not wanting to spit on Tony's floor. There were tears in both their eyes, Steve's half out of physical pain.

"Get out of my building. Before I kill you and break down that apartment door to kill Barnes as well."

Steve pushed himself up. "Tony. I'm so sorry."

And he was gone, leaving Tony to stare blankly at the flash drive on the table.

-

When Steve got back home, still bleeding, Bucky was sitting at the dining room table, Steve's bag on the floor next to him and the sketchbooks spread out in front of him. Steve felt heat rush to his face. Sure, Bucky was the only person he ever let see his drawings, but it still felt like a violation of privacy. He had been drinking, judging by his red face and slumped posture. He looked up when Steve opened the door, only to look back down and then jerk his head up again.

"What the Fuck! Steve-"

"It's fine, Buck. I'm lucky it isn't worse. He wanted to kill me."

Multiple emotions flashed over Bucky's face, before settling on emense anger.

"Kill you? I'll kill him before he dares lay another hand on you I swear to god, Steve."

"I told him I knew how his parents were killed. I expected to get punched a little." Steve sighed as his friends face turned from anger to sadness.

He had hoped that drinking Bucky was still happy and flirty, but it seemed now that he was emotional when he drank. And also he seemed to loose his clothes, as his shirt was on the floor next to him. Steve walked over and took the flask out of Bucky's hand, stopping to look that the pages his books were open to.

"You kept drawing me."

"Yeah. Fury found a file with old war pictures of you and- I couldn't resist. This was even before I knew you were alive. The ones I drew more recently- between SHIELD falling and Ultron- are from my memory."

"Somehow you continue to get better. I thought you had peaked in Brooklyn, but no. These are fucking amazing." Bucky's eyes fell on one, a beautiful drawing of a metal arm reaching out, surrounded by darkness, bubbles, and debris. "You remeber me pulling you out?"

Steve nodded.

"So" Bucky said with a sharp intake of breath, obviously not wanting to talk about that day anymore. "What do we do now? We can't go back to see what Zemo wants, becuase of Tony, and even though we just went out I've been getting antsy. I want to go shopping or something. I want to do something."

"I could teach you how to cook? Also there's this amazing website that we can order anything off of. It's called amazon. I mean movies, games, clothes..."

Steve stopped talking as Bucky stood up, wobbling a little, and trailed over to the window. Steve flinched a little at his back.

"Why go shirtless, Buck? Trying to impress the security cameras?" Steve chuckled a little. But Bucky didn't and Steve let his smile fall.

"One of the pictures of me, a more recent one- Ya know, long hair and metal arm, it has me shirtless. And there aren't any scars. Plus, you know I tend to strip when I drink."

Steve walked over to him and looked at His back and chest. There were too many to count, covering his whole back and only some of his front.

"Can I.." Steve lifted his hand, letting it hover over Buckys back.

"Yeah. Yeah go ahead." Bucky sighed, more than a little hesitant.

Steve gently lay a hand on his back, the uneven skin rough on his palm. Bucky leaned back into his touch a little, almost unoticable. The scars looked like the had healed the hard way with no proper treatment. They probabaly had. Steve traced one that looked like someone had stabbed and dragged a knife through his side all the way around to his front.

And suddenly, Steve looked up and was so close to Bucky that he could feel hot breath on his face. Buck had a concentrated look on his face, his eyes set and his lips parted a little. But he said he wasn't ready, Steve shouldn't instigate anything. Although, that had been months ago. Was he ready yet? Apparently so, ad his metal arm was soon cold through the fabric of Steve's tight shirt, pressing against the arch in his back. The sun was setting in the window and Steve couldnt help thinking about how perfect they looked right now. One hand on Bucky's waist, the other on his chest, while both of his friend's hands were snaked around his back. Steve was blushing, he could tell, but Bucky still looked compeltely calm and not red in the least. Everything was muffled. Kinda like the first time, in Brooklyn, when they were dancing.

"Buck, just fucking-" Bucky spun him around and pratcally dropped him on the floor, covering his own head with his left arm just in time for a bullet to shatter the glass and ding into it. 

He pressed himself against the opposite wall and mouthed at Steve to stay down. This was too much violence for one day. The chairs were still moved around from when Zemo was in the house, and now a sniper? Bucky whipped a gun out of the waist of his jeans, something Steve didnt even know how he got his hands on. All the guns were supposed to be locked up in Steves room. Steve army crawled under the window and to his sheild. Bucky dropped down next to him, looking hotter than ever.

"Give me the key." Steve looked at him. "The key to the fucking gun box, Steve. I need the sniper rifle. There haven't been any more people, and if they were coming that door would be down by now. So either there's only one sniper who didn't expect me to be as good as I am or they're waiting for something. Give me the key."

Steve pulled the chain that was clasped to his jeans off and tossed it to Bucky.

"It's the smallest one." Bucky nodded and rused to Steve's room. 

Another shot just barely missed him as he jumped passed the window. It hit a framed picture on the wall and shattered the glass, speeding through the picture of the whole team and into the wall. 

'Ahh, symbolism' Steve thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah fuck, more fighting.


	6. Chapter 6

When Bucky returned, he set up his rifle on the kitchen table. The red dot on the wall was proof enough that the sniper was still across the street, so Bucky had to maneuver around the range and area of where the attacker could get a shot in. Steve held tight onto his shield, ready to block the window and block Bucky if a shot was fired. Bucky had gotten him a gun as well, just in case. Although they had been whipped into the heat of a possible battle, Steve couldn't help but stare at Bucky. He was still shirtless and he was sweating a little, making him hotter.

Steve had forgotten how well they fought together. Bucky was giving him instructions, which hadn't happened during the war but a lot had happened since then, and Steve was following them flawlessly. Weather Bucky said something specific like "Stay on my left and cover me, Stevie." Or a hand gesture, Steve knew exactly what he meant. The sniper across the street shot three more times, and Steve blocked them all with the shield.

"I can't get a clear shot on the guy." Bucky cursed under his breath. "I think he's gone."

There was a dragging noise, a muffled thump then scraping on the outside wall, drawing both of their eyes and ears. Since there hadn't been much actual fighting yet, Steve's adrenaline was way down and the person that swung through the shattered window kicked into his shield and knocked him back. Steve slammed I to the wall with a grunt, and he could hear Bucky moving too. When he was able to stand and look at the attacker, he saw Bucky standing and facing a very muscular girl with a tight ponytail. Bucky said something, but Steve either couldn't hear or it wasn't in English. When the girl responded, it was very clearly Russian. Steve couldn't understand, of course, but he'd heard Natasha speak the language enough to know what it sounded like.

"Bucky, who is that?" It looked like they knew each other.

"Stay back" When Steve blatantly ignored that and took a step forward, Bucky moved towards him out of instinct. "I said stay back!"

The girl said something else in Russian and Bucky's fists clenched. Steve hated not knowing what was going on. Maybe Bucky could tell, or maybe his Russian was rusty, but his response came in English.

"Don't fucking dare." Steve couldn't understand other languages, by he could read people, and it looked like Bucky was trying to protect him.

In response to Bucky's switch, the girl spoke English as well. It was heavily accented.

"We don't care about him anymore. I am here for you, Soldier." She was expressionless. "I've taken you down before, I can do it again."

"That was in training" Bucky took a fighting stance. "I've improved."

"HYDRA wants you back, not dead."

Well, if he hadn't know what was going on before, he did now. There was another thing like the Winter Solider. HYDRA had come back for Bucky, and Steve couldn't let that happen. He moved to Bucky's side, but Bucky shook his head and pushed him back with the arm that wasn't gripping the gun.

"Steve, no. Stay out of this." The Winter Solider would have been able to take her alone, but Bucky couldn't.

"You fight both of us or you leave. They can't have him back."

Bucky blocked the first punch, that was directed at Steve's face, but the girl kicked Steve's knees out and almost took him down all the way. Bucky moved in between her and Steve, taking a punch and a knee to the gut before returning them and flipping her into the table. Steve grabbed his shield and moved to smash her face, but she blocked and rolled, and Bucky pushed him back again.

"Steve, I'm not kidding. She'll kill you. They only want me."

"And they can't have you. She's stronger, we're going to need to work together."

Bucky glared at him and went to punch the Winter Soldier pt2 again, but was flung over her when she got a grip on his metal fist. When she turned around to punch Bucky again, Steve took out the back of her legs with his shield. Bucky caught her and flipped so he was on top of her, punching her at least four times before she threw an uppercut and knocked him back to the floor. Steve launched himself at her and finished Bucky's punches for him, before getting thrown into the other wall. This was going to be a long night.

They took turns hitting her, only actually teaming up when they had to. It was probabaly an hour until she was weak enough to not fight bacm. The woman was panting, her legs pinned down under Bucky, who had a gun pointed in between her eyes.

"Wait, Buck, we should-" the gun fired and Steve blinked. 

"Trust me," Bucky said, standing up and leaning against the wall. "That was mercy. If she wers to have escaped and reported back to HYDRA... Well, if you fail a mission then it's never good."

Steve didnt miss Bucky shudder. He sunk heavyer into the wall, closing his eyes and holding his hand to his side.

"Are you hurt?" Steve couldn't see what Bucky was holding onto, dispite his still bare chest.

Bucky shook his head. "Just tired. I guess we should talk about..." He toed the dead girl.

"The fact that there was another one?" Steve looked down.

"She's not the last. I'm not surprised that HYDRA sent her instead of one of the other two."

"Two more? Why didn't I know? I've read files about the Winter Soldier so many times." 

"Yeah, sorry. I should have told you. HYDRA never put them on record. Just me." Bucky looked at her too. 

"Bucky... You know what this means, right?"

"HYDRA is back. And they're after me. We need to get out of here."

"Exactly." Steve walked over to Bucky and pulled him in for a hug. Bucky gladly leaned in.

"Before she interrupted, what were you going to say?"

Steve's nerve had disappeared in the heat of battle. They didn't have time to think about their relationship right now anyway.

"Nothing, it wasn't important. Now, where should we hide?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was laying in bed like a week ago with writers block and watching civil war again and then I realized that I could totally make their attacker one of the other HYDRA weapons. Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry it's a little short!! I hope you enjoyed. If you did, please leave kudos.


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